Safety-vau lt



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(No Model.)

G'. S.. CLARK SAFETY VAULT.

Patented Dec. 24, 1889.

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GEORGE S. CLARK, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFETY-Win Lrg/"I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,904, dated December 24, 1889.

Application filed July 27, 1889.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. CLARK, a citi zen of the United States, and aV resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Safety-Vaults and like Structures, of which the following' is a specification.

The object of my invention is to promote the comfort and convenience of and prevent annoyance and injury to persons passing into and from safe-deposit vaults or analogous structures having raised sills or obstructions; and this object I attain in the manner h ereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying' drawings, in which- Figure lis a sectional plan view of sufficient of a safe-deposit vault or like structure to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the doorway of the saine and the parts adjacent thereto, illustrating my invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one form of device used by me in the carrying out of my invention and Figs. 4 to 7 are views similar to Fig. l, but illustrating` slight modifications' of the invention and showing, detached, the parts of the structures to which my invention relates.

The fire and burglar proof vaults of modern banks, trust, and safe-deposit companies are always provided with doors and doorways having rabbeted joints, so that part of the door-frame presents a raised sill, which is a source of constant annoyance and frequent injury to persons passing in or out of the safe or vault, owing to their liability to trip and stumble by catching the feet on the raised sill of the doorway, this being especially the ease in the vaults of large safe-deposit companies where there are many safe-renters and consequently much travel into and from the vault. These latter vaults, moreover, are usually provided with both inner and outer doors and with one or more intervening` vestibules, and hence the objection is very materially aggravated, as persons entering the vault have iii-st to step over the sill of the outer doorway and down into the vestibule and have then to step over the sill or sills of the inner doorway or doorways in order to enter the vault.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents part of a vault; B, the inner doorway of the same; C, thevestibule, and D the outer doora Serial No. 3] 8,951. (No model.)

way, the door B', for closing the inner doorway B, swinging open into the vestibule C, and the door D', which closes the outer doorway, swinging in a semicircular pit ct in the iioor G of the apartment with which the vault communicates. This pit ct may, however, be square, as by dotted lines in Fig. l, or of other angular form, if desired, as may also the other segmental pits referred to hereinafter.

In applying my invention to such a vault I provide both the pit a and the vestibule C with a movable iioor F, of such a height as to be flush with the tops of the sills of the inner and outer doorways, as shown in Fig. 2, so that a passage-way. having a bottom flush with the bottom of the vault and with the tops of the sills extends from said vault to the iioor G of the outer room or apartment, and ingress to or egress from the vault is not interfered with by the sills of either of the doorways. These movable floors or iilling-pieces may be made of wood, metal, or other material, and each may be in one piece or in as many sections as desired, the structures being preferably provided with sunken grips or handles, or other equivalent means, whereby they may be readily adjusted to or removed from their proper position or carried about from place to place. Each of the movable iioors or iilling-pieces is also, by preference, so shaped as to iit snugly to the rabbeted faces of the open door, as well as to the rabbeted edges of the doorway, as will be understood on reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings, which represents the movable floor or filling-piece F for the vestibule C, the notched corners b o of this filling` piece fitting to the rabbeted edges of the inner doorway B, while the notched corners d d fit snugly to the rabbeted face of the door B when the latter is closed back against the side of the vestibule.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have shown a vault having an inner doorway with single door and au outer doorway closed by double doors, the floor G of the outer room or apartment having two semicireular pits,one foreach door, and in Fig. 5 I have shown avault having a single outer door and double inner doors swinging in segmental pits in the floor of the vestibule, while in Fig. G I have shown a vault having double doors for both the inner and outer doorways, and in Fig. 7 I have shown a IOO lvault havingtwo vestibules, the movable iioors being illustrated separately in each of these cases; hence it will be understood that the movable lioors or lling-pieces constituting the subject of my invention may be varied in shape, as desired, to suit the varying conditions of their use.

The obstruction might be of some othernature than the raised sill ot the door-part of the locking mechanism, for instance-the movable floor in all cases being adapted to overcome the peculiar form of obstruction.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent-' l. The combination of a vault or analogous structure having a raised sill or obstruction and a depression beyond the same, with a movable floor or filling-piece covering said depression and fitting to said s ill or obstruction, substantially as specified. L

2. The combination of a vault or analogous structure having a raised sill or obstruction and a slinken door-pit beyond lthe same, with a movable floor or illing-piece covering said pit and fitting snugly to the sill or obstrucgtion and to the open door, substantially as specified. i

3. The combination of a vault or analogous structure having inner and outer doorways with raised sills or obstructions and one or more intervening vestibules, with a movable ioor or filling-piece extending from the inner to the outer sill or obstruction, whereby the floor of the vestibule is iiusli with that of the vault, substantially as specified.

4. The combination of a vault or analogous structure having inner and outer doorways with raised sills or obstructions, one or more intervening vestibules, and a door-pit beyond the outer sill or obstruction, with movable floors or filling-pieces applied to said door-pit and vestibule or vestibules and forming a passage-way flush with the tops of the sills or obstructions, substantiallyras specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my nameto this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE S. CLARK.

Vitnesses:

JOHN J. GEARY, HARRY SMITH. 

